DAEDELUS, Exquisite Corpse (Mush; dirtyloop.com). Daedelus has become hiphop's most impishly maverick producer with a string of sonic silk purses stitched from sow's-ear samples. Exquisite Corpse finds the Cali vinyl fiend enlisting top underground MCs like MF Doom, Cyne, TTC, and Mike Ladd to verbalize over his whimsically rococo productions. This is a soundtrack for being sucked down the rabbit hole in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
JUSTUS KOHNCKE, Doppelleben (Kompakt; kompakt-net.de). Kohncke gives fellow Kompakt artist Superpitcher a run for his sugary techno-pop money on his follow-up to Was Ist Musik. Doppelleben is lover's techno, with a luminous dub afterglow. Kohncke conflates the dance floor and the bedroom, and it's all sweet klangfarbenmelodie, seductive bass lines, and gently irresistible rhythms.
KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN & GREG DAVIS, Yearlong (Carpark; carparkrecords.com). These laptop masters release 13 tracks of live improvisations from various cities worldwide, spotlighting their acute ability to harness rarefied tones into gripping compositions. Musique concrete collides with 21st-century sound design, beautifully controlled chaos ensues, and music profs everywhere cheer.
PARADROID/[A]PENDICS.SHUFFLE, Unclassified Computer Funk (Orac; orac.vu). The clever scientists at Orac helpfully save critics analytical sweat with this new series of EPs. Kicking it off are [a]pendics.shuffle (L.A. track machine Ken Gibson) and Paradroid (Max Wendling of Boogizm Records). Both producers veer toward the kookier end of the techno spectrum, but their inventive array of quirky sounds disorients rather than annoys. The prankster spirit of Spike Jones, Jean Jacques Perrey, and Akufen animates these four gems. Essential for adventurous DJs.
VENETIAN SNARES, Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletett (Planet Mu; planet-mu.com). On his umpteenth release, prolific Canadian drill 'n' bass maestro Aaron Funk gets his baroque orchestral groove on. This is a strange departure for the dude who's usurping Squarepusher in the complicated-rhythm stakes, but the incongruity of gorgeous, morose strings amid hyper-spazzy breakbeats is stunning.
HARMONIC 33, Music for Film, Television & Radio Volume One (Warp; warprecords.com). As crate-diggers know, library music--tracks made to spec by genius session musicians for TV, radio, and film--offers a bonanza of cool, outré sounds and grooves. Eschewing sampling, Mark Pritchard (Global Communication, Jedi Knights) and Dave Brinkworth re-create library music's sublime and wacky sonic vocabulary with swooping Mellotrons, blooping Moogs, trippy flute motifs, trilling harps, and other signifiers of swinging bachelorhood and space travel.
PIERS WHYTE, Piers Whyte (Ache; ache-records.com). Ever wonder what an explosion of a dozen iMacs running Reaktor sounds like? Ever ponder what would happen if somebody sampled Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music and jumbled its DNA? Piers Whyte, baby--abstract glitch with its shirt untucked and its blood over-caffeinated.
